Door operating device



March 8, 1932. P. SMITH DOOR OPERATING DEVICE Filed Aug. 19, 1931 2 Sheets-Sheet l March 8, 1932. SMITH 1,848,978

DOOR OPERATING DEVICE Filed Aug. 19, 1931 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 I f l INVENTOR Patented Mar. 8, 1932 {UNITE-D *s'rares,

V 9 PAUL SMITH, OF FARMINGDALE," NEW YORK noon ornnnrmennvron -Application.filedAugustm,133 1. Serial no. 558,145. I

My present invention has reference to a door operating device. v An object of the invention is the provision of simple, cheaply constructed, easily ri' applied and. readily operated means whereby double doors of garages or the like may be simultaneously swung to opened and closed position and] automatically unlatched in 7 either of such positions. I 1e A further object is to simplify and improve thedoor operating'device upon which I filed application for U. S. "Letters Patenton May 28, 1930', the said application bearing Serial No. 156,? 34 and was allowed Dec '29, 1930. T

To the attainment'of'the foregoing the in vention consists in the improvementhereinafter described and definitely claimed.

In the drawings: i p Figure 1 is a top planvi w with parts in 'section illustrating'the doors closed);

Figure 2 is a similar view but showing the doors open. Figure 3 18 a fragmentary interior View of .the garage looklng toward the'doors,the lat-.

' 'ter beingjclosedr p Figured- 1s a sectional View approximately on the line 1-4 of Figure 1. L

Figureb is a sectional view approximately on the line 55 of Figure 1. I Figure 6 is a plan view of the notched bracket.

Figure 7 is a detail sectional view approximately on the line 7-7 of Figure 1.

On the ceiling of a garage 1 or the like,

' approximately in a line with the meeting edges of the hinged doors 2 and 3 I secure a bracket 4. In the showing of the drawings the depending bracket has its lower end oil'- 7 set or e-:tended laterally in the direction of the door 2, the said ofiset portion being bifurcated to receive therein and to have pivoted thereto, as at 5, a bell crank lever 6. One

or" the arms of'the bell crank lever, that is the arm disposed approximately in parallel,- 41 1sm with the doors 2 and 3, when the latter are inclosed position, winch arms are indi cated by the numeral 7, is offset downwardly at approximately the center thereof and from thence continued in a straight line with the KC. arm proper and to the outer enchat the lower portion 8 of the said arm 7 there is pivoted a rod 9 which has its second end pivoted'to a lug or bracket 10 ontheinner face of the door 3. be second andstraight arm 11 of the bell crank lever 6 has pivotally secured thereto one end of a rod or bar 12. Thesecend end ofthe rod or bar 12 is pivotallysecured to a bracket 13 on the inner face ofthe door 2." The 'rods or bars 9 and 12 are pivoted: approximately centrally tothe doors on 8and2g I Secured to. the top of the: garagel, inward ofbut' in a line parallel to the door 2, whenthelatteris closed, there are the upper and outwardly extending ends 1 1 or an approxi-' 5 niately U-shaped member which I willterm" a bracket. :The lower and straight portion 15 ofthe'bra'cket which connects the side arms 16 to the extensions 14 is provided, adjacentto the respective side arms with notches 17 and 18, respectively. It is to be noted that the side walls provided by these notches "are cut angularly, as indicated by'th'e numeral 19, the angle sides ofthe respective notches being arranged inthe same direction and in the same 7 plane. The bracket13is also in the nature of a U-shape'd memben' and the inwardly 1 extending upper andlower flanged ends'thereof receive tlierethroughthe pi'ntle bolt 20 that passes through the rod or bar l2, so'that 39 the said biarl2'rests and rides on the lower portion "15 of the U-shaped member and whereby the said part '15 of the U-shaped member affords a track for the bar'12.

Pivote d, as at/2 1, to the inner :Eace of the door 2'there is a throw lever 22; The lever, ata pointadjacent to the pivot 21', is offset or bent laterally, as at 23', and from thence eX-. tended to providethesame with what will term an arm 24 andwhich'arm is arranged 9e outwardly'of the'br acket 13 but is disposed below and in the path of contact with the bar 12. Tl1e' second'end of the throw lever 22, which is directed'toward the meeting ends of the-doors 2 and are also slightly-offset, as'at 25', and to this end '25 there is'attached aflexible element, suchas a chain 26. "The chain downwardly'directed and is secured to'one' end ofa latch bar 27 which is pivotedyas at 28,

ene inner face Oflil'l door 2 and'which is movable into a keeper 29 on the inner face of the door 3. It is to be noted that the pivot 28 passes beyond the center of the latch bar 27 so that the end of the said latch to which the flexible element or chain 26 is attached is disposed closer to the pivot 28 than is the end of the latch bar that is received in the keeper 29 and consequently the latch will gravitate into engagement with the keeper. The pivot 28 passes through the door 2 and has fixed on its outer end an operating knob 30.

The bar 12 has one of its edges at a slight distance from its pivotal connection with the bracket 13 notched, as at 31, and its second end, at a distance away from the notch 31 approximately equaling the are described by the swinging of the doors to open position. The end of the bar which is freely mounted on the pivot 26 gravitates onto the notched track and when the doors are in closed position the notch 31 will be received in the notch 17 of the track. It is to be noted that the opposed walls of the notches 31 and 32 are out angularly to correspond with the angle side walls 19 of the notches 17 and 18inthetrack 15. When the notched portion of the bar engages in the notch 17 of the track, the doors will be latched in closed position. By turning the knob 30 the latch plate 27 which is fixed on the pivot 28 will be turned to bring the same out of the keeper 29 andsuch turning of the latch plate will drawupon the chain or like element 26 to swing the throw lever 22 to cause the end or arm 24; thereof to contact with and raise the bar 12 out of the-notch 17 and that by swinging the door 2 to its open position a simultaneous swinging movement is imparted to the door 3 by the turning of the bell crank lever and the push exerted thereby on the rod 9. WVhen the doors are opened the bar 12 will slide over the-track 15 in the direction of the notch 18 in the said track and when the doors are in fully open position the notched portion 23 of the bar 12 will drop into the notch 18 in the-track when the throw lever is permitted to assume its normal position and whereby the doors are latched in their said open position.

It will be noted from the foregoing description when read in connection with the drawings thatwhile the general principle of my present invention is similar to that of my mentioned allowed application Serial No. 456,784, I have materiallysimplified the construction and reduced the number of parts employed. 7 V

Having described the invention,I claim:

1. An operating and latching device for abutting hinged doors, comprising a bell crank lever, a rod pivoted toone arm of the bell crank lever and pivoted to one of the doors, a ,bar pivoted to the second'arm of the bell crank lever and having a pair of spaced notches on the edges thereof, a notched track over which the bar is movable, and the notches in the bar designed to be received in the notches on the track when the doors are swung to fully open and fully closed positions, a substantially U-shaped bracket on the door adjacent the track having a vertical pivot passing through the arms thereof and on which pivot the free end of the bar is free- 1y movable, a throwlever pivoted to the inner face of said door, having an angle portion disposed beneath the bar, and a depending operating element for the throw lever, operable to swing the throw lever to raise the bar out of the notches of the track to permit of the doors swinging to open or closed po sitions.

2. An operating and latching device for abutting hinged doors, comprising a bell crank lever, a rod pivoted to one arm of the bell crank lever and pivoted to one of the doors, a bar pivoted to the second arm of the bell crank lever and having a pair of spaced notches on the edges thereof, a notched track over which, the bar is movable, and the notches in the bar designed to be receivedin the notches on the track when the doors I are swung to fully open and fully closed positions, a substantially U-shaped bracket on the door adacent the track having a vertical pivot passing through the arms thereof and on which pivot the free end of the bar is freely movable, a throw lever pivoted to the inner face of said door, having an angle portion disposed beneath the bar, a depending flexible element connected to the throw lever, a latch bar pivoted to the said door off of its center and to one end of which the flexible element is connected, a keeper on the'first named door to receive therein the longer arm of the latch, and an operating hanldle fixedly secured to" the pivot for the late 1 In testimony whereof I affix my signature.

PAUL SMITH. 

